Prickly pear pads for sulcata

Davidy

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Feb 13, 2015
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fort Worth, Texas
Hello all!
I have just taken in an 8 year old sulcata rescue. She is 15L"X11W"X8H" and weighs about 30 pounds and seems healthy. We were not expecting her so I'm temporarily housing her in a large bathroom. She has a hiding spot under the built in vanity that I've hung a ceramic heat emitter. She seems to be happy there while I construct a temporary outdoor pen (this weekend) and start work on a permanent home in the yard. Her temporary enclosure will be 9'X12,' has plenty of green grass and will be surrounded by staked cinder block.

I have lots of experience with box turtles (6), aquatic turtles (4) and a Russian tortoise. I've had one of my red eared sliders for 20 years and an ornate box turtle for 15 years. Most of the others have been with me for 5 - 10 years.

Anyway I have questions about feeding Lilly the sulcata. I tried spineless prickly pear pads and she loves them. She ate an entire small pad in minutes. How often should I offer cactus pads and how many? She also chows down on Mazuri pellets. Should I let her eat as much as she wants? I purchased some loose bermuda hay but so far she doesn't seem too interested. I understand that grasses are most important but also read that cactus pads are another natural part of a wild sulcata's diet.

Any ideas?
 

OmarOlea

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Nov 26, 2018
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Long Beach CA
I also have a couple of tortoise about that size and I usually feed them about 5-7 pads every three days. Due to the fact that they have lot's of grass to eat. I personally give them a cup of mazuri pellets every three or four days. I would just spread the pellets on the grass and let them find the pellets. Another thing that you can do for him to eat hay is mixed it around with his food. Little by little reduce the other food and give him just hay. I have also heard that other breeders pretty much separate the tortoise and give them the food that they aren't eating. Eventually, the tortoise will get hungry and eat food. I don't believe that's the way to do it.
 

OmarOlea

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Long Beach CA
You also have to keep in mind that the Mazri pellets expand so the more they eat the more it expands in their stomachs.
 

DeanS

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Tom

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Hello all!
I have just taken in an 8 year old sulcata rescue. She is 15L"X11W"X8H" and weighs about 30 pounds and seems healthy. We were not expecting her so I'm temporarily housing her in a large bathroom. She has a hiding spot under the built in vanity that I've hung a ceramic heat emitter. She seems to be happy there while I construct a temporary outdoor pen (this weekend) and start work on a permanent home in the yard. Her temporary enclosure will be 9'X12,' has plenty of green grass and will be surrounded by staked cinder block.

I have lots of experience with box turtles (6), aquatic turtles (4) and a Russian tortoise. I've had one of my red eared sliders for 20 years and an ornate box turtle for 15 years. Most of the others have been with me for 5 - 10 years.

Anyway I have questions about feeding Lilly the sulcata. I tried spineless prickly pear pads and she loves them. She ate an entire small pad in minutes. How often should I offer cactus pads and how many? She also chows down on Mazuri pellets. Should I let her eat as much as she wants? I purchased some loose bermuda hay but so far she doesn't seem too interested. I understand that grasses are most important but also read that cactus pads are another natural part of a wild sulcata's diet.

Any ideas?
Hello and welcome.

I wouldn't use a CHE over a tortoise that large. The tortoise will sit under it too long and while the cold floor sucks the heat out of the tortoise, the top of the carapace will dry out and slow-burn.

Here is one way to do it. In this example, it is mounted in a box, but you could do this "free-standing" too.
https://tortoiseforum.org/threads/another-night-box-thread.88966/

I introduce hay by feeding all of their other foods on a bed of it. I like the Bermuda, and alternate that one with orchard grass hay. I don't care for the Timothy hay for sulcatas. Too stemmy.

I feed opuntia pads to all of my tortoises two or three times a week all summer long and well into fall. They are not a "natural" part of a sulcata's diet because no cactus species are native to that part of Africa, but they are an excellent tortoise food, none the less.

Here are more food ideas:
https://tortoiseforum.org/threads/for-those-who-have-a-young-sulcata.76744/
 
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